TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for April 8, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros shot seven under 65s to lead after one round of the Masters. Phil Mickelson was five back, Tiger Woods six.
* The Red Sox stage their home opener against the Yankees this afternoon. They are back home after a sterling 0-6 record on the road.
* The Barry Bonds perjury case is in the hands of the jury.
* Michigan upset North Dakota in the Frozen Four. They'll face the University of Minnesota-Duluth in tomorrow's final.
* LeBron James' mom also took her talents to South Beach. She got arrested for assaulting a parking valet.
2. Upon Further Review
The lords of golf have taken steps to limit the practice of golf fans calling in infractions that they've caught on TV. They've changed the rules so that a player can't be disqualified for an infraction that he didn't know he committed and wasn't visible to the naked eye. But they can still have penalty strokes tacked on. Huh? Yup, penalties can still be assessed, but they can't result in disqualification. It's still absurd. If it's not visible to the naked eye, and only visible by watching in super-slo-mo, play on. And since golf is a game of honor, let's can this whole "phone-in umpiring" nonsense once and for all.
3. World Record
What's the maximum number of empty beer cups you can stack on a sleeping fan's head? For the answer to that burning question, check out this video from Yankee Stadium the other night.
The part I like is where the fans boo when the cups fall. Must have been a gripping ballgame in the Bronx.
4. Friday eMailbag
When I "nominated" Bobby Valentine for baseball commissioner, S.T. wrote on Facebook at "Len Berman's Top 5," "Start a viral campaign Len! Egypt got their Autocratic ruler to leave... We may have a chance."
Editor's Note: Wow, heavy duty. What square should we start gathering in?
G.S. found watching Butler's inept shooting Monday night a bit familiar. He Tweeted me @LenBermanSports, "Watching that was as painful as watching John Starks."
Editor's Note: When John Starks went 2-18 in Game 7 against Houston in 1994, he was one guy. Butler's shooting woes were team-wide.
D.L. had an explanation for Butler's meltdown. He wrote on Facebook, "Part of the shooting ineptitude is playing in these huge football stadiums instead of a basketball arena. Butler simply choked. They had lots of great looks but couldn't throw it in the ocean from the boardwalk."
When I mused, "What's wrong at Wrigley?" after the Cubs drew their smallest crowd in nine years, B.C. wrote, "Cold weather, extraordinarily high ticket prices, bad economy and a team in transition plus non-exciting opponents."
Editor's Note: And a partridge...
5. Spanning the World
This week's Spanning the World highlight comes from Germany. A teenage girl named Regina Mayer wanted her parents to buy her a pony, but they refused. So she trained one of the family cows to show jump... sort of. The cow's name is Luna, as in "the cow jumped over la luna." Regina says the cow thinks she's a horse. And the dish ran away with the spoon.
Happy Birthday: One of my heroes, Celtics great John Havlicek. 71.
Bonus Birthday: Comedian Shecky Greene. 85.
Today in Sports: Henry Aaron surpasses Babe Ruth's home run record when he hits his 715th career homer. (Featured in my New York Times best-selling book The Greatest Moments in Sports, which includes the audio call of that home run.) 1974.
Bonus Event: Another hero of mine, Arthur Ashe, announces he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. (He tragically died the next year at the age of 49.) 1992.
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